Application instance staging

ABSTRACT

An application instance staging method comprises installing a runtime environment for an application program pushed to a cloud client; installing dependency of the application program; reading an environment variable of the application program to identify a functional service bound to the application program; modifying the application program based on the functional service bound to the application program; and packaging the modified application program, runtime environment, and dependency into an executable droplet.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to cloud computing, and morespecifically, to a method and a system for performing applicationinstance staging in a cloud computing platform.

PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) is a business mode offering a platform as aservice. Providers of PaaS can provide platform level products such asoperating systems, application servers, and application developmentenvironments to a user through a web service. Via PaaS service, asoftware developer can develop and deploy a new application programwithout purchasing platform software.

Take a web application program, for example. Generally, a webapplication program needs to be deployed on an application server whichruns on an operating system, and the operating system runs on a hardwareenvironment. Both the application server and the operating system areplatform level products. Under a cloud computing environment, hardwarecan be provided as a service through IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service).A required hardware environment can be provided by a virtualizedinfrastructure such as virtual machine, whereas a cloud computingplatform integrates functions of the application server and theoperating system. A user can directly develop and deploy his ownapplication program on that platform without having to build his ownplatform.

In order to deploy a user's application program on a cloud computingplatform, the user first pushes the application program to the cloudcomputing platform. The cloud computing platform then analyzes the typeof application program, prepares a corresponding runtime environment ofthe application program according to the type of application program,installs dependency of the application program, packages them into arunnable droplet and stores it in the cloud system. This process isreferred to as “application instance staging”. A main module forperforming application instance staging in a cloud computing platform isreferred to as buildpack. Generally, a buildpack is specific to a typeof application program. Within a same cloud computing platform, there isoften a plurality of buildpacks for processing different types ofapplication programs. For example, there is a java buildpack for a Javaapplication deployed on the cloud computing platform; and there is anode.js buildpack for a node.js application. After application programshave been pushed to the cloud computing platform, the cloud computingplatform invokes, one by one, buildpacks for processing different typesof application programs. If a buildpack discovers that the type ofapplication program is one which is to be processed by that buildpack,then that buildpack starts to perform application instance staging onthat application program.

With ever increasing diversity and complexity of application programs,existing buildpacks may not be able to realize functions of performingapplication instance staging under some scenarios. Therefore, there is aneed to make a certain degree of improvement on existing buildpacks.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, there is provided an application instancestaging method. The method comprises installing a runtime environmentfor an application program pushed to a cloud client; installingdependency of the application program; reading an environment variableof the application program to identify a functional service bound to theapplication program; modifying the application program based on thefunctional service bound to the application program; and packaging themodified application program, runtime environment, and dependency intoan executable droplet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description of some embodiments of the presentdisclosure in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects,features and advantages of the present disclosure will become moreapparent, wherein the same reference generally refers to the samecomponents in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 depicts one embodiment of an illustrative cloud computing node;

FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment of an illustrative cloud computingenvironment;

FIG. 3 depicts one embodiment of illustrative abstraction model layers;

FIG. 4 depicts one embodiment of an illustrative process flow ofperforming application instance staging;

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of one embodiment of an illustrative methodfor performing application instance staging;

FIG. 6A, FIG. 6B, FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B depict illustrative embodiments ofillustrations of performing application instance staging;

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of one embodiment of an illustrativeapparatus for performing application instance staging.

FIG. 9 is a high level block diagram depicting the architecture of oneembodiment of an illustrative system.

FIG. 10 depicts one embodiment of an illustrative process flow ofperforming service aware application instance staging.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart depicting an example of one embodiment of amethod of application instance staging.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which the embodiments of the presentdisclosure have been illustrated. However, the present disclosure can beimplemented in various manners, and thus should not be construed to belimited to the embodiments disclosed herein. On the contrary, thoseembodiments are provided for the thorough and complete understanding ofthe present disclosure, and completely conveying the scope of thepresent disclosure to those skilled in the art.

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,various embodiments are capable of being implemented in conjunction withany other type of computing environment known to one of skill in theart.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a schematic of an example of a cloud computingnode is shown. Cloud computing node 10 is only one example of a suitablecloud computing node and is not intended to suggest any limitation as tothe scope of use or functionality of embodiments of the inventiondescribed herein. Regardless, cloud computing node 10 is capable ofbeing implemented and/or performing any of the functionality set forthhereinabove.

In cloud computing node 10 there is a computer system/server 12, whichis operational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 12 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 12 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 12 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, computer system/server 12 in cloud computing node 10is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 12 may include, but are not limitedto, one or more processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28,and a bus 18 that couples various system components including systemmemory 28 to processor 16.

Bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 12 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 12, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 28 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 30 and/or cachememory 32. Computer system/server 12 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 34 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 18 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 28 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 40, having a set (at least one) of program modules 42,may be stored in memory 28 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein.

Computer system/server 12 may also communicate with one or more externaldevices 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 24, etc.;one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computersystem/server 12; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.)that enable computer system/server 12 to communicate with one or moreother computing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output(I/O) interfaces 22. Still yet, computer system/server 12 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 20. As depicted, network adapter 20communicates with the other components of computer system/server 12 viabus 18. It should be understood that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components could be used in conjunction with computersystem/server 12. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode,device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrative cloud computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one or morecloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 2) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 3 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include mainframes, in oneexample IBM® zSeries® systems; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)architecture based servers, in one example IBM pSeries® systems; IBMxSeries® systems; IBM BladeCenter® systems; storage devices; networksand networking components. Examples of software components includenetwork application server software, in one example IBM WebSphere®application server software; and database software, in one example IBMDB2® database software. (IBM, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries, BladeCenter,WebSphere, and DB2 are trademarks of International Business MachinesCorporation registered in many jurisdictions worldwide).

Virtualization layer 62 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers;virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks;virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients.

In one example, management layer 64 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computingresources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks withinthe cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing provide costtracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computingenvironment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management providescloud computing resource allocation and management such that requiredservice levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning andfulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloudcomputing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated inaccordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 66 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtualclassroom education delivery; data analytics processing; transactionprocessing.

FIG. 4 depicts one embodiment of an illustrative process flow ofperforming application instance staging in the cloud for a user pushingan application to a PaaS type of cloud computing platform. In FIG. 4, auser pushes an application from a cloud client 441 to a cloud computingplatform, as indicated by arrow 1. The controller 443 of the cloudcomputing platform stores the user's application in a storage 445 afterreceiving the application, as indicated by arrow 2. Additionally, thecontroller 443 of the cloud computing platform issues an instruction toa working component 447 for performing application instance staging, asindicated by arrow 3. The working component 447 then installs a runtimeenvironment for the user's application using a buildpack 449, installsdependency of the application program, and then packages them, asindicated by arrow 4. The working component 447 then stores the packagedexecutable package in the storage 445 for future running, as indicatedby arrow 5.

Sometimes, an application program needs to invoke some functionalservices provided by the platform, such as database functional service,monitoring functional service, etc. The database functional serviceprovides the capability of accessing a database to the applicationprogram. The monitoring functional service may monitor status, resourceconsumption of the application program or the like, and report them tothe application program. Due to diversity and complexity of functionalservices, an application program may not always be able to interact withthe functional services directly. Taking database functional service forexample, if a user application program needs to use a database, the userneeds to bind a database functional service to the application program,so that the application program may connect to this database functionalservice to perform operations such as add, delete, update, select, andso on. One premise is that the user's application program needs to havetherein a driver for connecting to this database functional service.Therefore, the application program needs to be extended. For example, itmay be required that a driver such as an agent or a library file ispre-installed to the application program and, even then, there is a needto modify code of the application program and set environment variables,etc., for the application program to interact with the functionalservice.

However, at the fourth step (arrow 4) shown in FIG. 4, i.e. in theprocess of performing the application instance staging by the buildpack,nothing is done for services bound to the application program.Accordingly, a provider of an application program needs to considerinteraction problems between the application program and the functionalservices. For example, in development stage of an application program,the provider of the application program needs to determine whichfunctional services will be invoked, and make necessary modification tothe application program for each determined functional service, such aspre-installing an agent or a library file, etc. This solution will bringadditional burden to the provider of an application programImplementation of a functional service is usually diverse and complexand, thus, it is quite difficult for the provider of an applicationprogram to learn the manner of use of each functional service and itsprerequisite conditions. Such additional burden weakens advantagesbrought by PaaS, since in the case of PaaS, the provider of anapplication program should have focused on business logic of theapplication program itself. Furthermore, such a solution is inflexible,since an application program can only interact with specific functionalservice(s) selected in development stage. Once the functional service isupdated, there may be a need to modify the application program again, sothat the application program will be able to interact with the updatedfunctional service.

Therefore, there is a need to simplify work that needs to be finishedmanually by a provider of an application program before pushing theapplication program to a cloud computing platform, so that in theprocess of performing application instance staging of the cloudcomputing platform, corresponding extension and modification to theapplication program can be made automatically according to servicesbound to user's application program.

To solve the problem discussed above, a method for performingapplication instance staging is developed at a management layer (i.e.layer 64 in FIG. 3) of a cloud computing platform. One embodiment of themethod for performing application instance staging is described belowwith reference to FIG. 5.

At block 501, a list of functional services bound to an applicationprogram is obtained. Functional services to be bound may be specified inthe application program. Thus, the information may be extracted by acloud computing platform from the application program after theapplication program has been pushed to the cloud computing platform.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the type of applicationprogram, required runtime environment, required dependency and the likeneed to be notified to the cloud computing platform when pushing theapplication program to the cloud computing platform. Similar means maybe employed to enable the cloud computing platform to obtain informationabout the bound functional services from the application program.

At block 502, a buildpack corresponding to the bound functional serviceis determined. According to one embodiment, the buildpack correspondingto the bound functional service is developed and deployed on the cloudcomputing platform by a provider of that functional service. Asdescribed above, it is expected that the buildpack is able toautomatically realize interface between the application program and thefunctional service in the process of application instance staging. Theprovider of the functional service knows what kind of extension needs tobe performed on the application program, such as, but not limited to,how to pre-install an agent or a library file to the applicationprogram, how to modify code of the application program, how to setenvironment variables of the application program, etc. in order toenable the application program to interact with the functional service.Therefore, the provider of the functional service may develop abuildpack by himself.

As described above, application programs may be of different types, suchas a java application program or a node.js application program. Theprovider of the functional service also needs to develop differentbuildpacks for different types of application programs when developing abuildpack corresponding to that functional service. Those skilled in theart will appreciate that, in order to develop a buildpack, the providerof the functional service also needs to have knowledge about thespecific cloud computing platform. In particular, the provider of thefunctional service needs to have a very deep understanding about theprocess of application instance staging on that specific cloud computingplatform, so that the buildpack is able to be deployed to the specificcloud computing platform.

To reduce workload of the provider of the functional service and shortenthe time to deploy the functional service to the cloud computingplatform, a framework may be provided to facilitate the provider of thefunctional service making extensions to a generic buildpack, rather thanredeveloping a buildpack dedicated to that functional service.

According to another embodiment, a generic buildpack is converted into abuildpack corresponding to the functional service by installing a plugincorresponding to that functional service. Thus, determining a buildpackcorresponding to the bound functional service described above, in suchan embodiment, includes determining a plugin corresponding to thefunctional service and loading the plugin into the generic buildpack.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, the so-called genericbuildpack herein may be directed to application programs of a same orsimilar type. That is, the generic buildpack may be used to handle allapplication programs of the same type. This embodiment is furtherdescribed below in conjunction with other drawings.

At block 503, the determined buildpack performs application instancestaging of the application program. At block 502, the buildpackcorresponding to the functional service is determined. The buildpack haslearned what kind of extension needs to be performed on the applicationprogram to enable the application program to interact with thefunctional service. Therefore, by performing application instancestaging by that buildpack, the application program may be automaticallyextended. The buildpack also performs other acts required in applicationinstance staging, such as installing a runtime environment, installingapplication dependency, packaging, etc.

One embodiment of a process of determining a buildpack corresponding toa bound functional service according is described below in conjunctionwith FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B.

According to one embodiment, a plugin corresponding to the functionalservice is provided by the provider of the functional service. Theprovider of the functional service uploads the plugin to the cloudcomputing platform, and registers that plugin to a buildpack of thecloud computing platform, as described in more detail below with respectto FIG. 9 and FIG. 10.

A generic buildpack can record a corresponding relationship between aregistered functional service and a plugin under a first directory, andstore the plugin under a second directory. For example, for a directorystructure shown in FIG. 6A, a corresponding relationship between aregistered functional service and a plugin may be recorded in fileservice_ext.sh under the directory bin, and a plugin corresponding toeach functional service is stored under the directory services, as shownin FIG. 6B. In FIGS. 6A and 6B, a file ending with .json represents aplugin corresponding to each functional service. Code of the examplefile service_ext.sh referenced in FIG. 6A may correspond to followingpseudo-code in some embodiments:

 ***********************************************  If an applicationprogram is bound to a functional service “application watch”, a fileAppWatch.json is installed  If an application program is bound to afunctional service “acceleration”, a file BLUAcceleration.json isinstalled  If an application program is bound to a functional service“data cache”, a file DataCache.json is installed  If an applicationprogram is bound to a functional service “log analysis”, a fileLogAnalysis.json is installed  If an application program is bound to afunctional service “monitoring”, a file Monitoring.json is installed  Ifan application program is bound to a functional service “database”, afile SQLDB.json is installed ***********************************************

Similarly, in the directory structures shown in FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B, afile default.rb under the directory services is used to record acorresponding relationship between a registered functional service and aplugin, and each .yml file under the directory config in FIG. 7B is aplugin corresponding to each functional service.

According to one embodiment, the plugin may be directly invoked by thebuildpack, thereby extending the application program directly by theplugin. According to another embodiment, the plugin may also beconverted into instructions understandable by the buildpack after beingparsed by the buildpack, and then the instructions are executed by thebuildpack. By installing or parsing a plugin corresponding to afunctional service, a generic buildpack becomes a buildpackcorresponding to that functional service. That buildpack automaticallyextends the application program according to requirements of thefunctional service in the process of application instance staging. Forexample, the buildpack may insert a driver into the application program,modify code of the application program, set environment variables of theapplication program, etc., as described in more detail with respect toFIG. 9 and FIG. 10.

Various embodiments for implementing the method have been describedabove with reference to the drawings. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that, the above method may be implemented either in softwareor in hardware or in a combination thereof. Furthermore, those skilledin the art will appreciate that, by implementing various steps of theabove method in software, hardware or a combination thereof, a system inwhich program modules are deployed based on a same inventive concept maybe provided. Although hardware structure of that system is the same asthat of a generic processing device, that system shows featuresdistinguished from the generic processing device due to functions of thesoftware included therein, thereby forming an apparatus of embodimentsof the present invention. The apparatus of the present inventioncomprises several units or modules, which are configured to performcorresponding steps. Those skilled in the art may understand how towrite a program to realize actions performed by the units or the modulesthrough reading the specification. Since the system is based on the sameinventive concept as the method, same or corresponding implementationdetails therein are also applicable to the apparatus corresponding tothe above method, which may not be described hereinafter for brevity,since they have been specifically and completely described hereinabove.

FIG. 8 depicts one embodiment of an illustrative block diagram of anapplication instance staging apparatus 800. The application instancestaging apparatus includes an obtaining module 881 configured to obtaina list of functional services bound to an application program, adetermining module 883 configured to determine a buildpack correspondingto the bound functional service; and an application instance stagingmodule 885 configured to make the determined buildpack performapplication instance staging of the application program.

The determining module 883 includes a module configured to install aplugin corresponding to the functional service to a generic buildpack ofa cloud computing platform, such that the generic buildpack is convertedinto a buildpack corresponding to that functional service. The plugin isuploaded to the cloud computing platform and is registered to thegeneric buildpack of the cloud computing platform by a provider of thefunctional service. In some embodiments, the plugin can comprise aplugin capable of being invoked by the generic buildpack or a plugincapable of being parsed by the generic buildpack.

The application instance staging module 885 includes at least one of amodule configured to modify code of the application program according torequirement of the functional service; a module configured topre-install a driver to the application program according to requirementof the functional service; and/or a module configured to set environmentvariables of the application program according to requirement of thefunctional service.

It is to be understood that each of the obtaining module 881,determining module 883, and the application instance staging module 885can be implemented via a processing unit which includes or functionswith software programs, firmware or other computer readable instructionsfor carrying out various methods, process tasks, calculations, andcontrol functions, used in performing the respective functions of themodules discussed above. For example, the obtaining module 881,determining module 883, and the application instance staging module 885can be implemented by the processing unit 16 executing respectivemodules 42 stored in memory 28 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a high level block diagram depicting the architecture of oneembodiment of an illustrative system 900. The system 900 includes one ormore virtual machines (VM)/Droplet Execution Agents (DEA) 902. Asunderstood by one of skill in the art, a DEA 902 is configured to stageone or more applications 904 pushed to the cloud computing platform by auser. In particular, as discussed herein and understood by one of skillin the art, a cloud controller, such as cloud controller 443 discussedabove, selects a DEA 902 from the pool of available DEAs to stage theapplication 904. As discussed above, the selected DEA 902 uses theappropriate buildpack 906 to stage the application 904. As discussedabove, the result of staging the application 904 is a droplet. Inaddition, as understood by one of skill in the art, each DEA 902 is alsoconfigured to run application droplets in respective warden containers908. Each DEA 902 is responsible for starting and stopping applicationdroplets based on requests from the cloud controller.

Each buildpack 906 in the system 900 includes a service aware framework910. Each service aware framework 910 includes one or more serviceplugins 912-1 . . . 912-N (also referred to herein collectively asservice plugins 912) provided by a service provider, where N is thetotal number of service plugins in a given service aware framework 910.Some example service plugins include, but are not limited to, monitoringservice plugins, performance analytics plugins, and database accessplugins (e.g. Structured Query Language (SQL) database search plugins).Each application 904 is bound to one or more services 914 provided by aservice provider. Additionally, each of the one or more service plugins912 provided by the service provider correspond to a respective one ofthe services 914. Based on the binding of an application 904 to aservice 914, the buildpack 906 utilizes the corresponding service plugin912 to install the artifacts, agents, libraries 916 for accessing thecorresponding service 914 into the application 904, as described in moredetail with respect to FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 depicts one embodiment of an illustrative process flow ofperforming service aware application instance staging. The processdepicted in FIG. 10 is modified from the process described in FIG. 4 inorder to provide service aware extensions according to embodimentsdiscussed above. As discussed above, the buildpack 1006, which isexecuted by the DEA 1002, installs the runtime environment anddependencies of the application program, as well as packages thedroplets. In addition, in the example of FIG. 10, the buildpack 1006also processes service aware extensions. In particular, at least oneapplication 1004 pushed to a cloud client by a user is bound to one ormore services 1014. The binding of the application 1004 to the one ormore services 1014 is set by the user and the one or more services aredeployed by the service provider. The buildpack 1006 identifies whichservices 1014 are bound to the application 1004 by reading servicebinding information from the environment variables of the application,as indicated by arrow 1.

After reading the service binding information, the buildpack 1006verifies the trigger conditions for the service plugins 1012corresponding to the bound services provided by the service provider, asindicated by arrow 2. In other words, the buildpack 1006 verifies thatthe conditions have been met to install the appropriate artifacts andlibraries for accessing the services, for example. If the conditionshave been met, the buildpack 1006 installs service support artifacts1016 in the application 1004, as indicated by arrow 3. In addition, thebuildpack 1006 modifies source code of the application 1004, asnecessary to access the bound service(s), as indicated arrow 4. Thebuildpack 1006 also sets an application running environment variable inthe application 1004, as indicated by arrow 5. Thus, the process flow ofFIG. 10 de-couples the staging procedure described in FIG. 4 and theservice plugin which enables service providers to extend serviceplugins. In other words, the process flow of FIG. 10 simplifies the workthat needs to be finished manually by a provider of an applicationprogram before pushing the application program to a cloud computingplatform. Additionally, the process flow of FIG. 10 enables the processof performing application instance staging of the cloud computingplatform, corresponding extension and modification to the applicationprogram to be done automatically according to services bound to user'sapplication program.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart depicting an example of one embodiment of amethod 1100 of application instance staging. The method 1100 can beperformed by a processor in a processing unit such as processing unit116 discussed above. At block 1102, a runtime environment for anapplication program pushed to a cloud client (also referred to herein asa user-pushed application) is installed, as discussed above. At block1104, dependency of the application program is installed, as discussedabove. At block 1106, an environment variable of the application programis read to identify a functional service bound to the applicationprogram by the user, as discussed above. At block 1108, the processorverifies if one or more conditions, which correspond to the functionalservice, for modifying the application program have been met. It is tobe understood that the verification at block 1108 is optional and notrequired in all embodiments.

In response to determining that the trigger conditions have been met atblock 1108, the application program is modified based on the functionalservice bound to the application program, at block 1110. Modifying theapplication program can include modifying code of the applicationprogram according to requirements of the functional service, installinga service support artifact to the application program according torequirements of the functional service, and/or setting an environmentvariable of the application program according to requirements of thefunctional service. Installing a service support artifact can includepre-installing a driver to the application program according torequirements of the functional service bound to the application program.At block 1112, the modified application program, runtime environment anddependency are packaged into an executable droplet. If the conditionswere not met at block 1108, then the application program, runtimeenvironment and dependency are packaged into the executable droplet atblock 1112.

It is to be understood that the method 1100 is presented by way ofexample only and not by way of limitation. For example, it is to beunderstood that the method 1100 is not to be construed as limiting theorder in which the individual acts may be performed. Furthermore, it isto be understood that some steps can be omitted or other steps can beincluded. For example, in other embodiments, the method 1100 can includeconverting a generic buildpack of a cloud computing platform into abuildpack corresponding to the functional service by installing a plugincorresponding to the functional service in the generic buildpack of thecloud computing platform; receiving the plugin uploaded to the cloudcomputing environment; registering the uploaded plugin to the genericbuildpack of the cloud computing environment; invoking the plugin by thegeneric buildpack; and/or parsing the plugin by the generic buildpack.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of application instance staging, themethod comprising: receiving, by a cloud computing platform, a list offunctional services to be bound to an application program pushed to thecloud computing platform prior to the application program beingconfigured to use functional services of the list of functionalservices; installing, without user input, a runtime environment for theapplication program; binding functional services to the applicationprogram using the list of functional services, wherein bindingfunctional services creates a set of environment variables of theapplication program; reading an environment variable of the set ofenvironment variables of the application program to identify afunctional service bound to the application program, wherein thefunctional service is included in the list of functional services;modifying, without user input, the application program based on thefunctional service bound to the application program; and packaging,without user input, the modified application program, runtimeenvironment, and dependency into an executable droplet.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein modifying the application program includes at least oneof: modifying code of the application program according to requirementsof the functional service; installing a service support artifact to theapplication program according to requirements of the functional service;and setting an environment variable of the application program accordingto requirements of the functional service.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: converting a generic buildpack of the cloudcomputing platform into a buildpack corresponding to the functionalservice by installing a plugin corresponding to the functional servicein the generic buildpack of the cloud computing platform.
 4. The methodof claim 3, further comprising: receiving the plugin uploaded to thecloud computing platform; and registering the uploaded plugin to thegeneric buildpack of the cloud computing platform.
 5. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising one of: invoking the plugin by the genericbuildpack; and parsing the plugin by the generic buildpack.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: verifying that one or moreconditions for modifying the application program corresponding to thefunctional service have been met prior to modifying the applicationprogram.
 7. An application instance staging apparatus, comprising: aninterface configured to receive an application program and a list offunctional services to be bound to the application program prior to theapplication program being configured to use functional services of thelist of functional services over a network; a memory; and a processingunit coupled to the interface and to the memory; wherein the processingunit is configured to install a runtime environment for the userapplication program without user input, bind functional services to theapplication program using the list of functional services such that aset of environment variables are created, read an environment variableof the set of environment variables of the application program toidentify a functional service bound to the application program, andmodify the application program based on the functional service bound tothe application program; wherein the processing unit is furtherconfigured to package the modified application program, runtimeenvironment and dependency into an executable droplet without userinput, and to store the executable droplet in the memory.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein the processing unit is configured tomodify the application program based on the functional service by:modifying code of the application program according to requirements ofthe functional service; installing a service support artifact to theapplication program according to requirements of the functional service;or setting an environment variable of the application program accordingto requirements of the functional service.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7,wherein the processing unit is further configured to install a plugincorresponding to the functional service to a generic buildpack of thecloud computing platform to convert the generic buildpack into abuildpack corresponding to the functional service.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein interface is configured to receive the plugin over thenetwork and the processing unit is configured to register the plugin tothe generic buildpack.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the plugincomprises any one of: a plugin capable of being invoked by the genericbuildpack; and a plugin capable of being parsed by the genericbuildpack.
 12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the processing unit isfurther configured to verify that one or more conditions for modifyingthe application program have been met prior to modifying the applicationprogram, the one or more conditions corresponding to the functionalservice.
 13. A program product comprising a processor-readable storagemedium having program instructions embodied thereon, wherein thecomputer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, theprogram instructions executable by a processor to cause the processorto: receive, by a cloud computing platform, a list of functionalservices to be bound to an application program pushed to the cloudcomputing platform prior to the application program being configured touse functional services of the list of functional services; install aruntime environment for the application program without user input; acloud client by a user; bind functional services to the applicationprogram using the list of functional services, wherein bindingfunctional services creates a set of environment variables of theapplication program; read an environment variable of the set ofenvironment variables of the application program to identify afunctional service bound to the application program by the user whereinthe functional service is included in the list of functional services;modify the application program based on the functional service bound tothe application program without user input; and package the modifiedapplication program, runtime environment, and dependency into anexecutable droplet without user input.
 14. The program product of claim13, wherein the program instructions further cause the processor tomodify the application program by performing at least one of: modifyingcode of the application program according to requirements of thefunctional service; installing a service support artifact to theapplication program according to requirements of the functional service;and setting an environment variable of the application program accordingto requirements of the functional service.
 15. The program product ofclaim 13, wherein the program instructions further cause the processorto convert a generic buildpack of the cloud computing platform into abuildpack corresponding to the functional service by installing a plugincorresponding to the functional service in the generic buildpack of thecloud computing platform, the plugin provided by a service provider. 16.The program product of claim 15, wherein the program instructionsfurther cause the processor to receive the plugin over a networkconnection and to register the plugin to the generic buildpack.
 17. Theprogram product of claim 15, wherein the program instructions furthercause the processor to invoke the plugin or parse the plugin.
 18. Theprogram product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions furthercause the processor to verify that one or more conditions correspondingto the functional service for modifying the application program havebeen met prior to modifying the application program.